Warriors: The Light of Dawn Book 1: The Moons Path
by symonybaloney
Summary: Moonpaw is a WindClan apprentice. She can't catch a rabbit, and longs to be in ThunderClan with her father, Foxleap. So when she joins ThunderClan, a certain cat in WindClan wants her back, and that warrior will kill to get her back...
1. Chapter 1

Moonpaw blinked open her eyes. Sun was beaming down on her gray tabby fur. WindClan cats were snoring around her. Beside her, Blazepaw was fidgeting in his sleep. She chuckled slightly and rose to her paws.

It was a nice new-leaf day, with clear sky and a bright sun. The she-cat stretched in the welcoming rays of the sun. She felt as if she didn't want to ever move, but duties had to be done.

Sedgewhisker , the kind deputy, was talking with a group of senior warriors. Crowfeather, her mentor, was amongst them. Not wanting to disturb the group of warriors, she padded out of camp quietly.

The grassy moorlands stretched in front of her. Rabbits could be seen darting around. She had never caught a rabbit, only birds and squirrels from the small woodland by the border. She didn't like being on the moorland, she longed to be in the cool forest. So instead, she headed for the border.

Moonpaw scented fresh ThunderClan scent. She longed to be across the border, with the squirrels, the birds… and her father.

The tabby she-cat recalled her father being Foxleap, and her mother Sunstrike. She bit her lip. Some cats in her Clan called her useless and half-clan dung. She wondered if she was useless. She couldn't even catch their main prey, rabbit. But maybe in the forest she could.

As she crouched down and started slinking into her sliver of forest, instant, great scents filled her nose. There was squirrel, mouse, and yes- even the rare rabbit. She started off in the direction of the squirrel and soon spotted it. It was gray, with an unusually poofy tail. She made quick work of it.

Next came the rabbit. It was much harder catching rabbit. She dashed after it, but it quickly dashed out of her grasp. She sighed and crouched down, snatching up a mouse and cracking its spine. She sniffed once again. Instantly, she could detect movement throughout the forest. She had keener scent and hearing skills than most cats, and used them to her advantage.

A mouse was scuffling beside a tree, searching for nuts and seeds. It was dead within moments. She hurried back to camp with her catch, her mouth full of mouse and squirrel. She was tempted to eat the prey, that just so happened to taste much better than the usual skinny stringy rabbit. But she wouldn't eat the prey.

When Moonpaw trotted into camp, cats were casting her dirty glances and whispering. She didn't stop walking until she got to the fresh-kill pile. Blazepaw was sitting beside Boulderfang and Furzeflight. Furzeflight was grooming him, and Boulderfang was crunching on a rabbit. _They like him more. Oh ya, it's because he can actually catch a rabbit._

When Furzeflight spotted Moonpaw, she whispered something to Blazepaw and Boulderfang. Both started purring. Moonpaw looked at her paws sadly. Did _every_ cat hate her?

Deciding that no cat would like to share prey, she dragged herself over to a corner and put her head on her paws gloomily.

"Hey Moonpaw!" She recognized Hoppaw's cheery meow. Moonpaw turned around to see her friend's dusty gray fur. Moonpaw was glad that at least one cat liked her. "Hey." Moonpaw tried to sound as cheerful, but her efforts were useless. Hoppaw flicked her ear with her tail. "What's wrong?"

_So much._ Moonpaw thought. "The whole Clan hates me." She sighed. "I don't!" Hoppaw replied quickly. Moonpaw cuffed her over her ear gently. "Of course you don't, mouse-brain. I know that. But they do." She thrusted her muzzled in the direction of Blazepaw, Boulderfang, and Furzeflight.

Hoppaw bristled and ran over them. As Moonpaw watched Hoppaw start talking to them, she realized that the gray she-cat was yelling angrily. _She's the best friend in the world._ The gray tabby picked up a few words. "She's half-Clan." "She's your sister!" "…she can't catch…" Moonpaw dug her claws into the ground.

Finally, Hoppaw stomped back over. She was even more angry. "Blazepaw is your brother! And they're acting like he isn't half-Clan!" Hoppaw hissed. Moonpaw felt fresh grief wash over her. "It's ok Hoppaw. You don't have to get involved."

Hoppaw looked at her with wide, bewildered eyes. "Of course I do! Were besties!" Hoppaw curled up beside Moonpaw. Moonpaw managed a purr and closed her eyes. She found little sleep, and by the time her mentor nudged her awake, it felt like she hadn't even fallen asleep.

Hoppaw was gone, most likely out training with Nightcloud. Moonpaw looked at Crowfeather with narrowed, blue eyes. What critism was her mentor going to give her now?

Instead of criticizing her, Crowfeather flicked his tail towards the elderly Onestar. "Onestar wishes to speak with you." He meowed curtly. Moonpaw nodded and padded over to Onestar, who was laying outside of his den.

"The weathers nice." Onestar commented. Moonpaw knew he didn't want to talk to her about weather, so she just nodded and murmered agreement. Onestar sighed. "I guess you just want to get to the point," His gaze suddenly hardened and became serious. "Moonpaw, you can't catch a rabbit or do any WindClan battle moves." Moonpaw bit her lip. Crowfeather must had been talking to her leader!

He scuffled her paws in the dirt. "I d-don't know why I can't." She meowed miserably. Her paws caught on a stray piece of moss and suddenly the world went black. There was a flash of light and then an image of Hoppaw collecting moss. It was dim, so Moonpaw knew she was having one of her visions she had sometimes when she touched certain things.

Onestar was sighing and flicked his tail impatiently. "Moonpaw, maybe you're not fit to be a warrior," He meowed. Shock washed over the she-cat and she was unable to speak. Her dream was to be the best warrior! "Maybe you could become a medicine cat or queen or something."

Moonpaw was outraged by this and found herself forgetting she was talking to WindClan's leader. "My dream is to be a warrior!" She hissed and stormed out of camp. By the border, she found a sunny rock and lay on it to think.

_Maybe you're not fit to be a warrior. _Onestar's words echoed in her mind. To take her mind off of him, she pressed her paw onto the rock and focused. When she focused enough, the world went dark and she was looking at several cats sunning themselves on the same rocks. Then the world was normal and she was back on the rock.

Towards the RiverClan border, she thought she heard a noise but ignored it. She padded up to the stream that was the border and put a paw gingerly into it. Instantly, she found herself running along the border. She couldn't stop, so maybe she wasn't running, but she let herself go wherever she seemed to be going. When the RiverClan border was in sight, she saw a vision of something that was currently happening.

A battle patrol led by Mistystar was heading towards her territory. In a moment, she was back on the rock, and then racing towards camp. She had to warn her Clan!

"RiverClan battle patrol on its way!" She yowled as she barged into camp, panting. Cats leapt to their paws, and one called out, "How do you know?"

"I… I, er- I saw them!" She hadn't thought about how she would tell her clanmates that she knew that RiverClan was attacking. Onestar seemed to believe her, because he had all of the Clan go into hiding so they could surprise RiverClan.

Moonpaw darted into the closest den, which happened to be the apprentice den. Then there was the terrifying words.

"RiverClan! Attack!"


	2. Chapter 2

Gentleheart- Your a guest, so I cant reply to you so I`m writing my reply here. They never changed Moonflower to `Dawnflower`, and Moon is a suffix that is completely legal. Moon is not just for telling time, it is a name that is commonly used on some stories. There is no rule that says you cant use the suffix Moon. SO please stop saying that.

* * *

The RiverClan warriors looked confused when they saw that the camp was empty. "Where are they?" One hissed. Moonpaw couldn't help but have her whiskers twitch in amusement.

Finally, She recognized Onestar's yowl to attack. The WindClan warriors caught RiverClan by surprise. Moonpaw leaped onto a tabby tom's back and scored her claws down his side. The tom hissed and sank his claws into her shoulder. Moonpaw gritted her teeth and slashed repeatedly at him. Finally, the tom sprang away and darted out of camp.

A heavy force knocked the breath out of her. A calico was nose-to-nose with her. Collecting every ounce of strength she had, the small apprentice heaved off the calico. She was much smaller, but she was also a lot faster. She darted under the attacking cat and managed to slash her claws into its belly.

"Help!" Moonpaw recognized the yowl right away. It was Hoppaw's! Instantly, Moonpaw raced toward the sound of her friends yowl. She found Hoppaw bleeding heavily from a neck wound. A pale ginger tom was shoving her face into the ground.

"Get off her!" Moonpaw screeched and launched herself at the pale ginger cat. He hissed in alarm as Moonpaw sank her claws into his shoulder. The wound she inflicted was dangerously close to his neck and the tom leaped off Hoppaw.

The gray she-cat was not moving. A deadly silence had fallen upon the camp. "Someone help Hoppaw! She's hurt!" Sedgewhisker padded up to Moonpaw slowly. "Moonpaw," She meowed gently. "Hoppaw is dead." Everything to Moonpaw went blank. Just a white light and her friend's dead body.

All her time spent with Hoppaw flashed before her. A lump formed in her throat and she found herself unable to speak. Why did StarClan have to take Hoppaw away?

Suddenly, Hoppaw's body got up. It was only an outline and her body still lay there motionless. The outline of Hoppaw touched noses with Moonpaw and the bounded off into to the sky, leaving a trail of starlight.

Moonpaw threw her head to the sky and yowled a long, mournful yowl. Why had her friend left her? Now she was alone, with everybody despising her for something she couldn't control.

Blazepaw scoffed and padded up to her sister. Moonpaw noticed a deep wound in his shoulder and one close to his neck. "And I thought you wouldn't have cared, since you aren't loyal." He growled. Moonpaw turned on him and her hackles rose. She fluffed out her fur, more than doubling her size. Without hesitating, she lashed out, aiming for his pale ginger face. She felt flesh connect with her claws and dug in deeper.

After digging her claws in deeper, she stepped back. Although her friend had just died, she felt a feeling of satisfaction at seeing the deep claw wound. Others were gasping, while Blazepaw was panting, hatred burning in his eyes. "Traitor!" He yowled. He leaped at her and when his claws were almost connected, time froze. Her vision went blank, and then she saw Blazepaw with Hoppaw cornered just outside of camp. He leapt and he scored his claws down her throat. With a sickening cry, Hoppaw fell, her eyes blank.

The small she-cat went back to reality and leaped back just at the right time. "You killed her!" She yowled, fury burning in her heart. "You killed my best friend!" With a yowl, she dug her claws into his shoulders.

The ginger tom whipped her off and turned on her. "Your friend deserved to die!" He spat with venom lacing his deep meow. He leaped onto her and started digging his claws into her neck. Moonpaw screeched and thrashed about.

Sedgewhisker barreled into Blazepaw from behind. She dug her claws into his shoulders. Making the wound that was already there gush out more blood. "_Nobody _deserves to die." She spat.

"Enough!" Onestar's meow boomed. He approached the heavily bleeding Blazepaw. He fluffed his fur up and rose to his paws bravely. Moonpaw was conscious of the battle slowly stopping around them.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Onestar said in a voice so quiet it scared the gray tabby she-cat. Blazepaw glared at Onestar. "This Clan is weak. Hoppaw deserved to die." He hissed.

"WindClan is not weak."

Onestar lunged at the already wounded Blazepaw. Moonpaw gasped as Blazepaw crumpled to the ground as his leader dug his claws into his chest. The pale ginger tabby's eyes were still filled with hatred although they were dull and lifeless.

So that made two in one day. Her best friend and her traitorous brother. Great.


End file.
